Making the drive from Canada to support the Jerks

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We are a hockey loving/playing family from Canada heading down to FLA for a little spring break. I asked my 2 boys what they wanted to see or do on the road trip to FLA and they both said they would love to check out a Hurricanes game with the hopes of a Canes victory so we can see the “jerks” celebrating.

We we are actually going to miss a day in FLA so that we could make this happen. We will be attending the March 23rd Wild game.

I made the Trek down once before back in 2002 when my Maple Leafs were playing the Canes in the 2002 Eastern Conference finals. The hospitality from Canes fans was incredible and although my team lost that experience was fantastic and a memory I share now with my boys.

Looking for game day advice. I refuse to pay ticketmaster surcharges and fees so plan on getting my tickets game day. Are there scalpers and if so any tips on getting the best pricing from them? Any parking tips? Fun activities for the kids? Both kids are competitive level hockey players ages 17 and 12. I guess I am just looking for advice to make this a fantastic experience for my boys so they to can appreciate the experience as much as I did back in 2002.

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Welcome Leaffans1967. It's always nice to have other hockey fans enjoy our sometimes unique and fun hockey culture. I remember in 2002 the Leaf fans who traveled to Raleigh and many who hung around for the next series even after the Leafs lost. When I visited the Hockey Hall of Fame with my then young son I likewise had a wonderful experience. Everyone was very nice to us and talking hockey with others was most enjoyable.

I'm sure some of our board members will be able to give you some good ticket advise.

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Tickets. It is a Saturday game and tickets will be harder than Tuesdays but, if ya'll are getting in on Thursday or Friday you can visit the box office and get some decent seats. Be there before 5 pm. It would also give you a chance to visit the Eye without game day traffic.

Stuff to do: This game is a party game. If you get there early, up to 2 hours, there will be events and games for all ages (weather permitting). Of course get there early enough, you can catch the party outside then go in for the pre-game warm ups. With the pre-game warm ups, you can go down to the glass to watch, without having a glass ticket. Once the skate is over, they ask all to leave and go to their assigned seats. Just to be clear, there are no ticket restrictions to who can go down to the glass to catch warm ups. That usually happens about an hour or so before the game.

Food in the area:

If you like burgers, fries and a shake- Char-grill is pretty close to the arena down Edwards Mill Rd.

If you are looking for a earlier place to eat, I recommend the Farmer's Market restaurant (farm to table style Country food). It will be busy but I've never had anything bad there.

If you like other food genres, we can come up with some solid recommendations.

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Agree with gocanes. There used to be scalpers and I think there still are. They are in the parking lot near Carter Finley Stadium (the NC State Football stadium), right by the crossing road inside the stadium parking area. They cannot cross that road so usually stand near it. It's an open barter on those. Three tickets might be a tough ask, four would be a bit easier. You can often get them discounted if you bargain hard. It all depends on how close to game time, how sold the game is, and how hard you bargain.

It still might be worth at least looking online. Even with the surcharge some people are dumping tickets on StubHub or the NHL ticket exchange. Also you can check our Swap Meet area here: http://fans.hurricanes.nhl.com/community/forum/41-swap-meet/. It's very spotty, but sometimes tickets are sold here.

There is free parking if you are willing to walk a little. The parking lot across the street from Carter Finley, (part of the NC fairgrounds) is free. It is really just rows of gravel roads. It's really not that far. Parking is $20 otherwise, and if you get there early and park on the CarterFinley side coming in right next to that stadium you can get right up pretty close.

Of course the team only surges with a win, but lately, that's been a pretty good bet.

When we had our cup run back in 2006, we had a true bunch of jerks roll in here for the ECF in Buffalo fans. But it was night and day when the Oilers fans came in for the SCF's. Great time with those Canadians. (It helped that we won!).

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Thanks everyone for the great advice.... really looking forward to the game and talking hockey some hockey with the folks in Raleigh.

Now that I am at my computer and not typing on an Ipad I figured I would also share my 2002 experience as it was one of my most memorable NHL experiences and that is saying a lot as I have had many.

It was game 2 in Carolina, on a whim I called down to Carolina to get ticket information and found out the price and that they had tickets available. In Canada it was a long weekend so I called up my dad and asked the old man if he wanted to go on a road trip to see our beloved Maple Leafs play in the ECF. He thought it was crazy to drive 18 hours for a hockey game but he was up for the adventure. Called back to buy our tickets and in the 5-10 minutes since I had last called, the ticket office apparently put a sales restriction on tickets being sold to anyone with Canadian address. In talking to the very nice lady at the ticket office she explained to me that there had been such an overwhelming demand from Leaf fans wanting to make the trip they decided minutes before my call to prevent ticket sales to Canadian fans so as to not have a Leaf home game in their own building. I asked about game day sales and she said that yes we could make the trip and buy our tickets at the box office and she figured I would have no problem getting tickets as and I quote "we never sell out"

So my father and I had a great road trip down. We stopped for a night in Washington DC and checked out some of the great monuments and museums, paid our respects in Arlington, and continued down to Raleigh. We arrive at the arena and are met with the awesome atmosphere of tailgating at a hockey game. Something new to us, as at the time our archaic liquor laws in Ontario prevented tailgating. It was quite the party. A fantastic mixture of Leaf fans and Canes fans engaged in spontaneous games of road hockey, drinking beer, grilling and having fun.

We head over to the box office and the line is huge, apparently a lot of other Leaf fans had the same idea. We get in line and we are next, no exaggeration, this literally happened, I go up to the counter and the lady says sorry we just sold the last tickets to the group in front of you. I was devastated. She went on to explain to me that they have never sold this many tickets to a hockey game before and they are looking to see if they can add standing room tickets. They had to wait for the fire marshal approval and suggested I remain in line with the hopes that more tickets will be made available.

My father went outside for some fresh air while I waited in line. About 20 minutes later he peaks his head in the door and tells me to come out side, I was reluctant as I did not want to give up my first in line spot but figured there had to be a reason. While he was outside he over heard some Season Ticket folks picking up their tickets from the box office talking about if they should find someone now who wanted to buy their tickets or come back latter. My dad instantly said to them if you have tickets you want to sell my son and I will buy them. I had the money in my pocket so he called me out of line. I come out and I remember this clear as day, It stands out in my memory because in Toronto if you cant get tickets at the box office you will be paying at times hundreds of dollars over face value buying them in a secondary market. My dad asks the very kind couple how much they want for the tickets, their response was a hesitant, "we are hoping to get at least face value". Instantly my dad and I said sold. The conversation was overheard by another group looking to buy tickets and quickly they threw in they would pay $100 over face, but as they were saying that my dad and I already had the tickets in hand and cash was being exchanged. We did give them an extra $50 and told them to please have dinner on us and thanked them so much for their help. We also invited them for a drink but they declined as they had to head out.

Excited we walked around the arena and took in the outdoor festivities, beer tent, BBQ vendors, music, it was a fantastic party experience that we had never seen at an NHL game before. We were talking to a few of the folks working there and they were telling us they were overwhelmed by the number of people that game down from the Toronto area and there was no way they would get all of them in the arena, so they had begun pulling TV's out of the various bars and locations inside the arena to set them up outside in the tented areas so the fans that did not have tickets could still see the game albeit from TV's outside of the venue. What incredible hospitality on the part of the Canes organization to be sure these fans could still be apart of the experience after driving so far. Every Canes fan we encountered were nothing but gracious and welcoming. Many very curious on our travels down and what we thought.

Game time we head into the building and find our seats..... to our excitement we find that our seats are center ice lower level and we are close to the fans we saw on TV always dressed as dumb and dumber. The game was fantastic and if I recall correctly went to overtime with a Canes win. But what a memorable trip.

I realize that that level of excitement may not be as intense for a non ECF playoff game but my kids have been enjoying the "Surge". When Don Cherry, a man who I admire, came out and called the players jerks. My boys and I realized he has lost touch. This is the greatest game in the world and if these professional athletes are still having fun at this level what better message to send to the kids playing this fantastic game. There is nothing wrong with celebrating your victory with your fans and I think it is awesome that they started this new tradition. So awesome that my family and I are going to make a side trip to see a game with the hopes of witnessing first hand a "surge" and we will have fun with the rest of the hockey fans in the crowd celebrating their victory and the game of hockey.

I appreciate the advice and welcome any more tips you may have. I love the fact that the game I fell in love with has spread beyond its traditional boundaries and is being enjoyed by fans in non traditional hockey locations. My boys have experienced NHL hockey in both Sunrise FLA, and Tampa FLA, now looking forward to them experiencing hockey in Raleigh.

As this is a side trip from an already very expensive trip to Walt Disney World, I am looking to buy just the least expensive tickets I can find. Even nose bleeds if necessary. I had read somewhere in the past that they will often let fans in the upper levels move down to unclaimed lower level seats if they wish. Do they still/have they ever allowed this?

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I had read somewhere in the past that they will often let fans in the upper levels move down to unclaimed lower level seats if they wish. Do they still/have they ever allowed this?

In my experience not so much anymore. The Canes do have many ticket special going on. You may want to check with the box office.

You can also start a topic and post in the Swap Meet forum and ask if anyone has tickets available for sale. They will PM you using the board messenger if they do. All the sales are private and between the buyer and seller.

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Unfortunately I do not have season tickets for Toronto. The only way to get those is to have them willed to you or pay the big bucks for the corporate tickets. Hockey in Toronto has unfortunately become not affordable for the everyday fan. You can see this when you watch the games on TV, it is almost morgue like it is so quite and most seats in the lower bowl are empty 5 minutes into each period as all the corporate types are still back in the lounges. The real fans congregate in Leafs square on game nights and watch the game on the big jumbo tron on the outside of the arena. I used to take my boys to at least one game a year in Toronto but it became ridiculous the prices. Now I take them on road trips to say Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Columbus, anywhere that is typically within a 10 hour drive. I can usually pay for gas, tickets, food and hotel at those games for far less than what I would have paid for just tickets in Toronto. It really is insane. The Toronto area needs another team but the Leafs would never allow another franchise to open in their area. I used to have access to my companies tickets, but even they became so expensive the company gave them up back in 08. You have to pay a one time seat license just to be able to buy season tickets each year. Kind of like an initiation fee when joining the country club. I just took a look on a resale site and right now to buy someones seat license which gives you their right to purchase season tickets will cost you $180,000 for 2 lower bowl tickets. Now this is in Canadian dollars so that would be like $135,000 American dollars. The season ticket waiting list is currently sitting at an estimated 99 years long. It really is crazy.

I would be more than happy to offer any tips if you are planning on heading up to a game and if you join the Leafs insider club they will email you mornings of game days and let you know if any additional tickets have been released, but you have to act quick to get them as the sell out within minutes of the email being sent.

I now live about 250 miles north of Toronto but it is my home town and I am there often so would be able to assist with any hotel, restaurant and things to do type advice if you need any.

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We are a hockey loving/playing family from Canada heading down to FLA for a little spring break. I asked my 2 boys what they wanted to see or do on the road trip to FLA and they both said they would love to check out a Hurricanes game with the hopes of a Canes victory so we can see the “jerks” celebrating.

We we are actually going to miss a day in FLA so that we could make this happen. We will be attending the March 23rd Wild game.

I made the Trek down once before back in 2002 when my Maple Leafs were playing the Canes in the 2002 Eastern Conference finals. The hospitality from Canes fans was incredible and although my team lost that experience was fantastic and a memory I share now with my boys.

Looking for game day advice. I refuse to pay ticketmaster surcharges and fees so plan on getting my tickets game day. Are there scalpers and if so any tips on getting the best pricing from them? Any parking tips? Fun activities for the kids? Both kids are competitive level hockey players ages 17 and 12. I guess I am just looking for advice to make this a fantastic experience for my boys so they to can appreciate the experience as much as I did back in 2002.

Go Canes!!!!! except when they play the Leafs hehe.

Good stories LF, glad to hear your past experiences here were so enjoyable.

There are other trustworthy online merchants besides Ticketmaster or Stubhub that don't have surcharges or hidden fees (I despise them as well). Not sure if I can post other sellers here, so I'll send you a private message. Some examples for the game you want:

3 tickets behind the visitors goal (10th row) of the upper bowl for $28 each

not many seats for sale in sets of 3, but at these prices you could always buy 4 and eat the extra one

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I was there as well. The best time I had was walking through the Toronto "group" in the lot, Drinking some beers and having a general good time. I exchanged some memorabilia with some that I still have. I remember one group vividly. They had a kiddie pool in the back of a truck and were sitting in it. They were all baked inside and out as only far northerners can get in the early year sun. To this day best fans ever. I sit in Nosebleeds in section 301. I would be glad to buy you a beer. Will have to be local on though. I am pretty superstitious on game days. Would love to see y'all in the playoffs. If'n we get in and thats up to us as a team, we might surprise y'all.

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Curious if as a Candian you have a take on Don Cherry's ongoing feud with our Bunch of Jerks?

Hey remkin, Leafsfan1967 covered the early part of the feud nicely in part with this snippet from the post above:

“...my﻿ kids have been enjoying the "Surge". When Don Cherry, a man who I admire, came out and called the players jerks. My b﻿oys and I realized he has lost touch. This is the greatest game in the world and if these professional athletes are still ha﻿ving fun at this level what better message to send to the kids playing this fantastic ga﻿m﻿e﻿﻿.﻿﻿﻿..“